Confessions
by Professor-Piggy
Summary: Sayaka Miki only has one regret. Well, two regrets. Maybe five. But they're all the same one, so who's counting? Anyway, she's done a lot of messing up her relationship with Kyoko in a lot of worlds, and this time she's dead set on getting things right.


The first time, she'd been surprised. She'd tripped over her words, tripped over her feet, and blushed redder than the sunset reflecting off Kyoko's cute little head. It hadn't gone well. The other girl's face had fallen, just… crumbled. Then, before she'd been able to force the words out, she'd been grinning, laughing it off as a joke. By the time Sayaka'd even figured out what was going on, Kyoko'd been long gone.

The second time had been even worse. She'd gone in wanting to say yes, but at the last second she'd lost her nerve. And just like she always did when she lost her grip, she'd screwed everything up. She'd been harsh. The only alternative was to tell the truth, and what was that? She was a dead girl living in a make believe world, and dead girls didn't get their happily afters. All she'd been able to do was laugh – desperately, painfully, at a joke only she got. Right in Kyoko's face. And the only answer she'd been able to offer was 'no.'

She'd seen Kyoko hurt before, but seeing her break like that… she never wanted to see that again. So of course she had. Three more times, actually, but the last one had totally been Homura's fault. She was all for being there for her friend, but destroying the world in the middle of a love confession was a little rude.

So here she was, standing outside the observatory with her hands in her pockets, watching the stars. Or watching Kyoko watch the stars, anyway. It was a difficult art to master, since Kyoko was only pretending to watch the stars and was really sneaking glances her way, trying to make sure she was enjoying herself. Protocol, and Madoka, demanded that she keep a smile on her face instead of sticking her tongue out. Not that she had to try very hard.

It was fun. Even if she'd done it before. Before Kyoko, she'd never really cared about the stars. Sure, they'd been pretty, but she hadn't been able to name them, or point out the constellations, or tell the stories behind them for the third time in one night because she was avoiding other topics, like Kyoko could. Admittedly, she couldn't think of a time that last bit'd come in handy, but it was definitely cute as hell.

She let her eyes wander from where Kyoko was pointing to Kyoko herself. Her face mostly, though she couldn't help taking in her legs too – though of course that was only because the red head was shuffling her feet nervously and in no way because she had amazing legs. It was strange how easily she thought that, these days. She liked it, even if Hitomi'd probably die if she ever said it aloud.

But it was the face she noticed most – mostly the eyes, and the way Kyoko was staring straight at her with her free hand on her hip. Ir was the little things. When Sayaka finally met her eyes Kyoko cocked an eyebrow, and a grin spread across her face. 'See somethin' more interestin' than the stars, Sayaka?'

'Definitely,' she shot back with her smoothest grin. Or at least, that's what she _meant_ to say. What actually happened was that she turned bright red and started stammering like an idiot, completely forgetting the speech she'd spent all afternoon practicing. But by her standards that was still pretty damn smooth. It had the right effect, at least – Kyoko's grin grew wider, just for a second, before she lit up herself and looked away.

'Heh. Tongue tied, huh? Stricken dumb by the beauty before you and her incredibly dorky knowledge of astronomy? C-can't say I blame ya. I'm quite the catch.'

That was new. Kyoko didn't usually flirt. At least not that well, or that openly. Usually it involved terrible innuendo and jokes about her food preferences. It deserved a response worthy of it, some kind of snark to deflate that – admittedly well deserved – ego. What it got was a stammered 'Y-yeah.' That was okay. Well actually, since it made Kyoko's head snap up and her mouth hang open like Mami'd just announced that she'd gotten bored and made six cakes just for her, it was more than okay.

Now Kyoko was the one stammering, completely thrown off by Sayaka's amazing smoothness. It felt good. But since Sayaka was the one who'd derailed her – usually by now she was giving a speech about how Sayaka had changed her life and how amazing she was and all those other weird misconceptions she had while Sayaka did her best not to throw up from a mixture of nerves and shock and happiness – it seemed like her responsibility to get things back on track. It'd be easy. A cock of the eyebrow, a joke about making Kyoko speechless, a kiss. Or she could reach out and poke Kyoko in the shoulder. That worked too.

'H-hey,' she managed, voice trembling from sheer confidence, 'so…um…a-are you gonna tell me what… what…' She cleared her throat, and wished very badly that she had something to drink. Preferably something that would knock her out completely so she could forget how much of an idiot she was making of herself, but water would do. '…what you're up to, inviting me out?'

'Wh- up to? I-I ain't up to anythin'! I was just… I just wanted to see you is all! Hangin' out's what friends do, right? So what's wrong with me invitin' ya?'

'Heh. Y-yeah. You're right. Nothing suspicious at all about inviting a girl out stargazing on Valentines day.'

'…Shut up. Smart ass.' Kyoko was smirking again. That was a good sign. And the small white package she pulled out of her pocket as she said it was an even better one. Sayaka'd seen it before, of course – five times now. But four times she hadn't had the right to open it, and the fifth time it'd probably been crushed by the observatory when it collapsed on top of them. Or Kyoko'd saved it. She wasn't sure which thought hurt more. Either way, she was getting really sick of not knowing what was in the box.

She didn't have to wait long. Twice Kyoko had presented the box with a dramatic flourish, grinning to mask her nerves. Once she'd pressed it into Sayaka's hand without a word. Once she'd made Sayaka catch her and take it, like the insufferable, amazing butthead she was. And the last time she'd dropped it, swearing loudly and staring at the sky. This time she just kind of shoved it at her, looking away and muttering 'I uh… couldn't afford much. Sorry.'

Torn between the mysteries of the box and comforting her soon to be potentially hopefully girlfriend, Sayaka made the natural choice – she grabbed the box before Kyoko could run away with it. Then, when Kyoko glanced at her in shock, she leaned over and kissed her fiercely

By kitten standards. On the nose. With her nose. It was the thought that counted. Or it was supposed to be. The way Kyoko was struggling to fight back her laughter suggested maybe that was as much of a lie as 'Santa isn't real' or 'Kyoko isn't perfect and amazing', but whatever. She had a box to open, and a soon to be potentially hopefully girlfriend who was nice enough to _try _not to laugh at her, at least.

Opening the box was heavenly. It wasn't the _best _part of the night – not really – but it was sure as hell the easiest. The paper broke before her like Homura's stoic facade before a giggling Madoka, and she tore it apart, doing her best to keep from laughing maniacally. She was pretty sure it'd be okay this time, but she wasn't about to risk it.

When her incredibly dignified unwrapping of the box was complete, Sayaka stared. First at the gift, then at Kyoko. Kyoko, who stood there shifting on her feet and looking like a deer in headlights, waiting for Sayaka to reject her, to break her, to hurt her like she had before. After a long silence, during which she took great pleasure in watching Kyoko squirm, Sayaka finally regained her composure enough to speak.

'…_Candy hotdogs? _You got me _candy hotdogs _for Valentines day?'

'I…well… yeah. You like hot dogs, and I know you ain't that fond o' chocolate anyways and I- I – I'm sorry. I thought you'd… it was dumb and…'

'You stupid, perfect, brilliant _dork,' _She managed hoarsely, grinning wildly and trying her best not to laugh. 'I love you.'

Kyoko grinned broadly, and said those four little words. And Sayaka couldn't deny that it was the best moment of her lives.


End file.
